West Ham 2 Aston Villa 2

The Frenchman repaid Glenn Roeder's faith in him for restoring him to the starting line-up with a 65th minute goal after Villa had threatened to inflict a crushing misery on the home side with Darius Vassell and Oyvind Leonhardsen cancelling out Trevor Sinclair's opener.

Sinclair got The Hammers off to the perfect start drilling home Kanoute's cross after 15 minutes to ease their nerves.

Villa fought back and Darius Vassell drew the visitors level on 36 minutes from the penalty spot after Tomas Repka fouled Marcus Allback in the area.

The visitors turned the game on its head after 53 minutes with substitute Oyvind Leonhardsen finishing Gareth Barry's cross from close-range.

West Ham pushed forward in search of an equaliser and the impressive Kanoute provided it with a fine finish from Joe Cole's pass.

The home side were denied the victory they deserved with Peter Enckelman saving superbly from Glen Johnson and Kanoute late on.

The result leavesWest Ham three points adrift of safety while Villa should be secure in 14th spot.